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Not pictured : Kyrie One, because I let a friend take them 

If you haven’t noticed, signature shoes have been on the rise due to shoe companies placing their bets on rising stars rather than established super stars. With this new wave of sig shoes, companies have decided to create shoes with a lower price point to wrangle in sales based on these new stars. Here is a performance comparison between some of the sig shoes.  **spoiler alert** the Curry One kicks everyone’s ass

THE PLAYERS

• Nike Kyrie One 
• Adidas D Lillard One
• Under Armour Curry One
• Nike Hyperchase Harden PE
• Nike Hyperrev George PE

I included the PEs since the Harden and George are synonymous with the shoes currently and price similarly. I did not buy the jwall1 because I thought the design was boring and it looked like a rehashed Rose 773 to me. 

Here are links to each individual review:

Nike Kyrie One

Nike Hyperrev 2015

Nike Hyperchase

Adidas D Lillard One

Under Armour Curry One

TRACTION

Best to worst

• Under Armour Curry One
• Nike Hyperchase PE
• Adidas D Lillard 1
• Nike Hyperrev 2015 PE
• Nike Kyrie One



This was the toughest category to rank because they all had pretty good traction overall so I had to drill down and rank based on consistency. The Curry One /Clutchfit have one of the best patterns I’ve ever used and sticks nearly to everything.  The middle three are all practically the same although I felt the Lillard was more consistent than the Hyperrev especially on dusty floors. The Kyrie was awesome at first but picked up dust quickly and required a lot of wiping.

CUSHIONING

• Under Armour Curry One
• Nike Hyperrev 2015
• Adidas D Lillard 1
• Nike Kyrie One
• Nike Hyperchase

The Curry One is firmer than the Clutchfit but it still touts full length Micro G/charged cushioning and feels great heel to toe although I still prefer the Clutchfit’s cushioning more. I was really hoping for full length Zoom in the Hyperrev but I’ll take the big targeted Zoom units they use. I’ve read some reviews where they couldn’t feel the Zoom but I could feel them and I’m nitpicky about my cushioning set up. If this was full length Zoom, the Hyperrev would have grabbed the top spot. The D Lillard One had full length Adiprene which is good but not all that fun to play in compared to the top two. Not really as bouncy as Boost or Micro G but still fairly plush. Both the Kyrie One and Hyperchase flat out sucked compared to the rest of the field. The Kyrie at least had a Zoom Unit in the forefoot which I couldn’t really feel but it was still softer than the Hyperchase’s sad PU insole that was stiff and hard . That’s what she said ..

FIT

• Under Armour Curry One
• Nike Hyperrev 2015
• Nike Hyperchase
• Nike Kyrie One
• Adidas D Lillard One

The Anafoam on the Curry One really conforms well to the foot to give it a nice 1:1 feel. I also love the neoprene sock like feel of the Hyperrev but the Curry just feels more secure overall.  Both shoes have zero heel slip thanks to dog bones in the ankle collar.

The Hyperchase and Kyrie both fit well also but both are too narrow for me especially at the midfoot and neither really hug the foot like the top two. Plus the cheaper feeling uppers don’t feel as good on my foot.

SUPPORT and STABILITY

• Under Armour Curry One
• Nike Kyrie One
• Nike Hyperrev PE
• Adidas D Lillard One
• Nike Hyperchase PE



Didn’t realize how small the Hyperchase looked compared to the others 

The Curry One takes the top spot for support due to a great fit, external heel counter and outrigger at the forefoot. The Kyrie has the huge heel counter , a very flat outsole and  stiffer upper, therefore feels more supportive than the other three.  Had the Hyperrec been a little more structured , it would have taken the second spot.  All the stability and support on the Hyperrev comes from it’s stable wide platform and outrigger while the upper does very little in terms of actually protecting the foot. The Hyperchase had a nice structured heel counter but it was a little too tipsy for me with no outrigger and it failed my heel test.

CONTAINMENT

• Under Armour Curry 
• Nike Kyrie One
• Nike Hyperrev PE
• Adidas D Lillard One
• Nike Hyperchase PE

One thing the Kyrie did was was keep my foot in the footbed on hard cuts thanks to the stiff Hyperfuse upper. It could really be in a virtual tie with the Curry One but someone had to finish second.  The Hyperrev did a pretty good job holding my foot in place due to the footstay at the forefoot, not the Flywire.  The DLillard and Hyperchase have no structure or reenforced uppers  at the forefoot and midfoot  to keep the foot in place which allowed my foot to come out of the footbed more than I could bear.

PRICING

• Adidas D Lillard One $105
• Nike Kyrie One $110
• Nike Hyperchase $120
• Under Armour Curry One $120
• Nike Hyperrev 2015 $130

CONCLUSION

I told you in the beginning that the Curry One obliterated this shootout by sweeping the top spot across the board. Feeling biased, I tried leaning towards the other shoes but there was to big in gap in most categories. When you take a step back and look at the three featured shoe companies which one would most people pay the most for ? Put a swoosh on any shoe and almost anyone would pay more for Nike and that’s why they own the basketball shoe market. Add in the fact that a sig shoe costs twenty to thirty dollars more than a team shoe and it should be no surprise that something (performance) had to give. Adidas put together nice quality materials and a beautiful shoe but didn’t really put together a great shoe to play in with the lowest price point. Pleasingly, UA realizes they they don’t  have that same brand equity as Nike and put together a real performer for a low price.